Upper and Lower Canada Lesson Plan
Prior Knowledge/Overall Concepts to grasp
A Democratic Government
 People Choose their representatives through elections
 Reps have the power to create laws
 But this system was undemocratic when Canada was divided into Upper and Lower Canada
 Voters did elect reps but they did not have that much power in the system: they elected people to the
Legislative Assembly but if they passed a bill—and the Governor did not like it, he could tell the
Legislative Council to vote against the bill—so it could not become a law
 If the Legislative Council did not like a bill that the Legislative Council passed, the Governor could as the
council to pass an Order in Council—this turned the bill into law.
 In the end, the people’s representatives had little power because the Governor, executive council and
legislative council could veto their bills.
Changes have occurred since war of 1812
 Population explosion
o LC (250, 000 in 1806– 717, 000 in 1841)- high birth rates, British and American immigrants
o UC (71, 000 in 1806 – 432, 000 in 1841) –originally settled by Loyalists leaving the States
after the revolution, but after war of 1812, not allowed to. There was a wave of settlers from
Great Britain (Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales). 1815-1850—“Great Migration”
o In 1815 almost 80% of the population in UC was American-born, in 1841 almost 50% were
recent British immigrants
 Thriving timber trade (LC and UC)
 End of fur trade competition—NWC and Hudson’s Bay united
A General Economic Decline
 Britain and France were at war from 1794-1815, and when they signed a peace treaty, their
economies fell as well.
 Prices for agricultural products fell as well, and since BNA supplied lots of agricultural products to
Europe, incomes in BNA declined.
 By the mid 1830s, many farmers were almost bankrupt. But the government didn’t want to do
anything about this problem…and the public became dissatisfied with this.
Lower Canada
Habitants: worked farms, paid debt to seigneur
 Population growth filling up farmland—as farmers were diving land. Scarce land
 People left to work on lumber yards or in the town—or the U.S.
 Extreme poverty common after 1810, starvation.
 Economic worse by ruined wheat crops, bad weather, disease, insects
 Large amounts of English-speaking newcomers made them afraid of losing their French language,
and Roman-Catholic religion and agricultural way of life.
Merchants:
 Made money from export of furs, grains, timber
 Rich and powerful
 English-speaking mostly
Decline of the Seigneurial System
 In Lower Canada, under the French regime, the seigneurial system was a good way of developing a
colony but by the early 1800s, the British Merchants in Lower Canada lived very well. The seigneurs
began to envy them/
 Seigneurs increased their income by charging their Habitants more tax and rent. There was nothing
the government could do for them when they complained because of the Quebec Act (1774) and the
Constitutional Act (1791) were acts of British Parliament—which recognized the Seigneurial System.
Chateau Clique: elite of Lower Canada
 A small group of powerful people (mostly in businesses) in the colony of Lower Canada.
 They were either British background or Canadiens allied with the British
 Believed power should be in the hands of a few powerful people (themselves).
 Wanted Catholic Church to stay powerful, so church supported them.
 Favoured British point of view and British system of government, wanted more English-speaking
settlers in the colony
Parti Canadien,
 Later called “parti patriote” (after 1826)
 Educated people—mostly lawyers or doctors
 Led by Louis-Joseph Papineau—a wealthy seigneur
 Group wanted political reform: to increase the power of Legislative Assembly and reform
government to make it more democratic.
 They appealed especially to the Canadien professional elite.
 They eventually became the Legislative Assembly and even though they had little power, they were
able to vote against improvements planned by the Chateau Clique, such as canals.
 Dreamt of a separate French-Canadian Nation that would preserve their way of life: their language,
religion, agricultural lifestyle
Responsible Government:
 A more democratic system in which people appointed to their positions within the government
must have the support of the elected representatives and be responsible to the people
 According to the principles of responsible government, the powers of the governor general are
limited - a fundamental concept which exists nowhere in any legal document.
 The Crown will only appoint Ministers who as members have the confidence of the House.
 The Crown will only act on the advice of its ministers.
 Ministers will act as a team or ministry.
 If the ministry loses the confidence of the House it must resign or seek new elections.
Papineau’s 92 Resolutions (1834) and Russell Resolutions (1837)
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In 1834, Lower Canadian Legislative Assembly (led by Papineau) passed the 92 resolutions (a list
of grievances that the assembly had with the British Government)
Supporters of the resolutions thought that if these were taken care of, that L.C. could be truly
democratic.
1n 1837, in an answer to this—Lord John Russell, who was colonial secretary, responded with the
Russell Resolutions—basically they didn’t care and they politely wrote a response saying that yes
they might try to do this in the future or it is not possible at this time.
Upper Canada:
Living Conditions:
 Most pioneers lived on the forest frontier
 Used physical labour to fell the trees and remove the stumps
 Persisted through years of hard work and effort to create a home
 Began as subsistence farmers
 Had to work daily to provide their necessities
 Had to clear forested area to build homesteads
 Lived a fair distance from their neighbours
 Received the little education they had from their parents or a literate neighbor
 Visited towns to use the mills to grind their gain or the sawmill to get lumber
 Worked together to get big projects accomplished and to have some social activity
 Depended on their own ingenuity for their survival
 No paved roads yet
Transportation
 In Upper Canada, merchants were expanding trade, so routes had to be expanded. Since they used
mostly ships to transport goods, they build canals (artificial waterways) to improve shipping. Most of
these were in Upper Canada, since leaders there felt Lower Canada was slow at building canals
(Pearson 150)
Family Compact: Elite of Upper Canada
o Small group of powerful people, also known as Tories
o Did not want Americans to be part of the Government of Upper Canada
o Defended tradition and opposed change
o They formed the executive council and legislative council—they had the power to stop and
bills from being passed that they did not like.
o They took for themselves, gave favours to their friends such as jobs, land, contracts for canal
and roadwork. Most of them were Loyalist descent or British immigrants.
o Mainly lawyers, landowners, clergy, and a few rich merchants who did not want the people
elected any power.
o Believed the Anglican (Church of England) should be powerful in the colony
o Was loyal to Great Britain and the British system of government
Summary of Lower and Upper Canada: dissatisfied in early 1830s
 Their governments were undemocratic—officials were only a small group of the population
 Farmers found the period difficult. Declining wheat prices required them to change the crops they
grew. In Upper Canada, population increases led to demand for farmland that wasn’t available.
 In lower Canada, the situation was made worse by dissatisfaction with the Seigneurial System
 The governments of the two Canadas did not cooperate with each other. This made it more difficult
to make improvements, such as better transportation
GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE: LOWER CANADA
Appointed
Appointed
Legislative Council
Executive Council
Chateau Clique: _______________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Legislative Assembly
Elected
Elected
GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE: UPPER CANADA
Appointed
Appointed
Legislative Council
Executive Council
FAMILY COMPACT: ___________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Legislative Assembly
Elected
Elected
TERMS/CONCEPTS TO KNOW
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Democratic Government
Cheateau Clique
Merchants
Habitants
Seigneurial System
Family Compact
Responsible Government
Legislative Assembly
Executive Council/Legislative Council
Louis-Joseph Papineau
Parti Canadien (Parti Patriote)
92 Resolutions
Political Reform
Changes that happened after 1812:
o Population explosion
o Thriving timber trade
o NWC and Hudson’s Bay combined
o Economic decline overall in both UC and LC
o Growing dissatisfaction with their governments
Questions to think about:
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How are the two regions different or similar as a whole?
E.g. language, religion, agriculturally, politically, trade, population
What kind of conflict(s) do you think could arise here at this point in time?
You were asked if conflict could be a good or bad thing—how could it be seen here? Good or bad? Why?
Activity:
 Go to Pages 193 and 205 in the “Canada Revisited” Text book to fill out the worksheets on each type of
Government structure
 Write down characteristics of either “Upper or Lower” Canada in one half of the piece of paper—using
drawings and colours to illustrate your concepts: you can use what we just talked about in class or use
the textbooks: Pearson: 147-152, Clark: 184-205
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YOUTUBE LINK: lower Canada patriotes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58pH1PM3axQ
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Henry settles in Upper Canada: National Film board illustration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrkGXWR8SuM